Health Of Children Born As A Result Of In Vitro Fertilization

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Fertility
Article Date: 22 Nov 2006 - 0:00 PDT


UroToday.com - A study done by Klemetti, et al, utilized nationwide registries to examine the health of children who were born as a result of in vitro fertilization. The children's age ranges were from birth to 4 years of age. These children were born after in vitro fertilization from 1996 to 1999 and monitored until 2003. They had a total of 4,559 children. Two control groups were selected from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. The first group was children born after ovulation induction in that same time frame. The total number of children in this control group was 190,398. There second control group was a random sample of those children which numbered 26,877. The group calculated mortality rates and odds ratios for perinatal outcomes, hospitalizations, health-related benefits, and long-term medication use.

Although the health of most of the in vitro fertilization children was good, they did have more health problems than the other children. A total of 35.7% of the in vitro children and 2.2% of controlled children were multiple births, and the health of multiple births was worse than that of singletons. Perinatal outcomes of in vitro fertilization children were worse and hospital episodes were more common than among control children. Risks for cerebral palsy and psychological along with developmental disorders were increased. Among in vitro fertilization singletons, worse results for perinatal outcomes and hospitalization, but no increased risk for specific diseases, were found. The health of in vitro fertilization multiple births was comparable to the health of control multiple births.

The group concluded that reducing the number of transferred embryos may improve the health of in vitro fertilization children. They comment that additional studies are needed to explain the poor health of in vitro fertilization singletons when compared to the multiple births. They also state that it would be critical to do follow-up studies on these children to see how well they are after 4 years of age.

Reija Klemetti, Tiina Sevón, Mika Gissler, and Elina Hemminki
? Pediatrics 2006; 118: 1819-1827.

Reviewed by UroToday.com Medical Editor Pasquale Casale, MD

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